Copyright law is unique in the greater intellectual property regime, as it protects original expression that is fixed in a tangible medium and is the product of authorship. This course is designed for creative professionals — such as screenwriters, musicians, documentary filmmakers or artists — who want to understand the scope and limits of which works can enjoy U.S. copyright protection. The course will introduce students to the workings of copyright law through an examination of the system’s basic principles, rules, and institutions. Topics will include; the justifications for copyright law, copyrightable subject matter, authorship, the nature and scope of copyright’s exclusive rights, fair use, and remedies for infringement.
We will also explore real-world examples of legal battles surrounding copyright law, from the recent litigation over Robin Thicke’s hit song “Blurred Lines” to more peculiar cases such as the infamous “monkey selfie” case. By understanding what copyright does and does not protect, producers of creative expression will be able to protect and maximize the commercial value of their works.

Enseigné par

Shyam Balganesh

Transcription

So now we've discussed what gets copyright protection, how it gets copyright protection, how copyright protection works through its grant of exclusive rights. Now we move to something called copyrights limitations, and exceptions. So it's important to understand what exactly limitations and exceptions are, and how they fit into the broader landscape of copyright law. To begin with, it's important to understand that copyright is a two-sided institution. On the one hand, it grants exclusive rights to creators for creative works that meet certain requirements for copyrightability. But at the same time it also creates and encourages use of those creative works in lawful ways. And there's a reason for this, because at the end of the day, copyright law cares not just the creation of the work. But also about the optimal use of that work in society for the betterment of overall human progress and welfare. So it's not just about granting creators exclusive rights, but also ensuring that users of the work can do so in a lawful way. So it polices the boundaries of this lawful use, and it's for that that it creates these limitations and exceptions. So copyright limits are not afterthoughts. They're not just something that are tacked on to copyright protections. Instead they are integral to the institution and central to its functioning. At all points in time, copyright law tries to create a delicate balance between the amount of protection that it grants creators over their works. And the amount of freedom that it grants others to reuse the work in a variety of different ways through the limitations and exceptions that it consciously creates. And all of this derives from a basic idea that we've discussed in the past about copyright law, namely the principle that copyright law is not about copying alone. Copyright law does not stand for the proposition that all copying is copyright infringement. In fact, it does the opposite. Copyright begins from the proposition that not all copying is copyright infringement. So what kinds of copying do not amount to copyright infringement? Well, it's for that that we look to copyright's limitations and exceptions. Copyright's limitations and exceptions come in two different types, broadly speaking. One, there are very specific, or area specific, or right specific limitations. These are some that connect to specific types of users. So for example, the broadcast industry, at one point has certain kinds of limitations or exceptions. Music had certain kinds of limitations and exceptions, library use has certain kinds of limitations or exceptions, specifically crafted in the statute. Also they can be tailored to specific rights, like the first sale doctrine, which we talked about, which applies only to the public distribution right or to an extension to the public display right as well. Those are specific limitations and exceptions. But what we're going to be concerned with in the next few talks is what are called general limitations and exceptions. Limitations and exceptions that apply regardless of the subject matter at issue, regardless of the industry or the creative market at issue. And very importantly, that apply regardless of the particular right at issue. That's why we call them general limitations and exceptions. In the United States, the most important, and in fact the primary, if not exclusive general limitation and exception that we talk about is the fair use doctrine. Which is considered absolutely essential to an understanding of copyright, because it balances out copyright protection. In fact, it's very important to understand the fair use doctrine, because here in the United States, we have many industries that have revolved or have been set up around the fair use doctrine. In other words, they've employed the fair use doctrine to take advantage of the idea that not all copying is copyright infringement and create an alternate marketplaces. In fact, this is how Google claims that it was able to succeed in the search engine business, because of relying on the fair use doctrine. So with that in mind, let's jump into understanding how the US fair use doctrine works.